This week, the course was much more difficult with several downhills with speeds going over 40 mph and a few steep climbs over 8%.
It's a hard day to get into a rhythm and a steady pace, which makes it hard to balance "going hard enough" with "not overdoing it." By studying the course, first on paper and then driving it, I was able to figure out about how long each climb was and how long each descent was so I could estimate how hard to go up each climb.
I almost immediately realized that I did not have the right gearing on my bike for this race. My lightest gears were not light enough and my largest gears were not large enough. My bike was set up for a flat time trial, not a steeply hilly one.
Doing a little shopping, I decided that I wanted a front chainring that one tooth larger than what I had but I could not find a rear cassette that I liked. The ones with a larger range had steps that were too large (one gear might be too easy but then the next one would be too hard) and others did not have a large enough large cog (for spinning up the steepest of hills). So, I did something new for me: I built a custom cassette.
Taking two cassettes off the shelf, I selected the cogs I wanted and put them together into a cassette and put it on my wheel. I also installed the new front chainring myself... a lot of mechanical work for a guy who'd never even adjusted his own gears before this summer.
Driving the course the night before, I was nervous. It's one thing to see a 10% grade on paper. It's another to see it in person. It looked bad. I almost wanted to turn around and come home.
To be honest, the course was not that bad. I found that my plan for attacking up the hills and recovering on the descents worked pretty well. I kept wondering if I could have gone just a little harder, maybe a couple of watts on each climb. I was worried about going too hard and burning out and I was worried about not going fast enough and losing because of either mistake. I was concerned that I'd only passed 2 people by the turnaround. I had a third in my sights right in the turnaround, but I didn't see anyone else the whole rest of the way back. I was trying not to panic.
I took the turnaround really slow because it was at the bottom of a pretty steep descent and I knew that I'd immediately have to go back uphill. It was also right at a spot where the sun was beaming through the trees and I could barely see. If I could not see the guy in front of me turnaround, I'm not sure I'd have seen the marshals in the road.
To give you an idea of the course: the way out was a short steep downhill (enough to hit 43 mph) and then about a 7-minute climb, which was the steepest right at the top. After that was a steep downhill for a minute, a short flat spot, and then a 5-minute descent with a couple of bumps back upward and and a steep drop to the turnaround. Going back the other way, an 8-minute climb back to the flat spot, then a brutal 2-minute steep climb, a descent, another steep 2-minute climb, and then a minute down to the finish. There was so much up-and-down that I was losing track of whether I was climbing, descending, or on a flat road.
I hit the finish tired but wondering if I could have gone just a bit harder. I held back just a touch because I was worried about burning out. I was really worried that it might cost me. All the downhills messed with me. I'd alternate between feeling terrible at the top of the climb and feeling great at the bottom of the descent.
In the end, I won by only 2 seconds. I was thrilled that I could win three races in a row now.
I also felt like it was a reminder of how every second matters. My start, my tuck on the high speed descent, my turnaround, every watt on every climb. It all matters and every little glitch could be the one that tips the scale the other way.
What Went Well
My custom mechanical work
Plan for the race
What to Work On
Pushing just a bit harder when I know it fits into the plan.
I let my cadence bog down a bit on the climbs.
The Numbers
Distance: 14.1 miles
Time: 35:33
Avg Speed: 23.7 mph
Avg Heart Rate: 159 BPM
Avg Power: 249 (279 normalized)
